What do you think?
Rate this book
Anna ou La revanche de l'amour (Collection Azur)
Spanish
Paperback
Published January 1, 1995
8 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Penny Jordan
1,131 books671 followersPenelope Jones Halsall
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
aka Caroline Courtney, Annie Groves, Lydia Hitchcock, Melinda Wright
Penelope "Penny" Jones was born on November 24, 1946 at about seven pounds in a nursing home in Preston, Lancashire, England. She was the first child of Anthony Winn Jones, an engineer, who died at 85, and his wife Margaret Louise Groves Jones. She has a brother, Anthony, and a sister, Prudence "Pru".
She had been a keen reader from the childhood - her mother used to leave her in the children's section of their local library whilst she changed her father's library books. She was a storyteller long before she began to write romantic fiction. At the age of eight, she was creating serialized bedtime stories, featuring make-believe adventures, for her younger sister Prue, who was always the heroine. At eleven, she fell in love with Mills & Boon, and with their heroes. In those days the books could only be obtained via private lending libraries, and she quickly became a devoted fan; she was thrilled to bits when the books went on full sale in shops and she could have them for keeps.
Penny left grammar school in Rochdale with O-Levels in English Language, English Literature and Geography. She first discovered Mills & Boon books, via a girl she worked with. She married Steve Halsall, an accountant and a "lovely man", who smoked and drank too heavily, and suffered oral cancer with bravery and dignity. Her husband bought her the small electric typewriter on which she typed her first novels, at a time when he could ill afford it. He died at the beginning of 21st century.
She earned a living as a writer since the 1970s when, as a shorthand typist, she entered a competition run by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Although she didn't win, Penny found an agent who was looking for a new Georgette Heyer. She published four regency novels as Caroline Courtney, before changing her nom de plume to Melinda Wright for three air-hostess romps and then she wrote two thrillers as Lydia Hitchcock. Soon after that, Mills and Boon accepted her first novel for them, Falcon's Prey as Penny Jordan. However, for her more historical romance novels, she adopted her mother's maiden-name to become Annie Groves. Almost 70 of her 167 Mills and Boon novels have been sold worldwide.
Penny Halsall lived in a neo-Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, with her Alsatian Sheba and cat Posh. She worked from home, in her kitchen, surrounded by her pets, and welcomed interruptions from her friends and family.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 17, 2017
Sara Browning (who is 29) lives in London and has been in love with her boss (Ian) for years. But after Ian tells Sara he is marrying someone else she hands in her notice and leaves her job. She decides to go back to her parents' home in Shropshire. When Sara arrives she meets a stranger (hero Stuart Delaney) who tells her that Sara's parents have just left for a few days because her sister is having her baby. Since Sara is alone till her parents come back she spends some time with Stuart and gets to know him. Stuart (who is in his 30's) is a tree expert who grows and sells trees and has worked with the Forestry Commission. He is now living in the manor house down the road, near her parents' home. Eventually Stuart offers Sara a job doing some computer work for him. Sara tells Stuart about how she loved her boss Ian and that Ian's fiancée Anna had a talk with Sara about how sexless and undesirable both she and Ian thought Sara was. So now Sara believes she is unappealing to men. Sara also tells Stuart about how much she wants children and a family. One day Stuart suggests a marriage of convenience...they are both compatible and want the same things in life. As time goes by Sara begins to realize how shallow Ian was and starts to fall for Stuart.
I liked Sara. She was a sweet, innocent, and at times naïve heroine. I couldn't figure out why she was so hung up on Ian for so many years. Maybe it was because at nineteen, when she arrived in London, she fell in love with Ian so he was her first love? Besides being good-looking he didn't have any good traits. It seemed that Sara was seeing him through rose-colored glasses. After being away from Ian for a while she started noticing his many bad qualities.
I really liked Stuart. He was kind, and thoughtful, and caring, and obviously smitten with Sara. He was a bit different for a Harlequin Presents hero. I can’t think of many HP heroes that worked with trees and the Forestry Commission.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The first few chapters were a little slow when Sara dwelled for a bit on Ian but after that it really picked up. Another wonderful read by Penny Jordan!
I liked Sara. She was a sweet, innocent, and at times naïve heroine. I couldn't figure out why she was so hung up on Ian for so many years. Maybe it was because at nineteen, when she arrived in London, she fell in love with Ian so he was her first love? Besides being good-looking he didn't have any good traits. It seemed that Sara was seeing him through rose-colored glasses. After being away from Ian for a while she started noticing his many bad qualities.
I really liked Stuart. He was kind, and thoughtful, and caring, and obviously smitten with Sara. He was a bit different for a Harlequin Presents hero. I can’t think of many HP heroes that worked with trees and the Forestry Commission.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The first few chapters were a little slow when Sara dwelled for a bit on Ian but after that it really picked up. Another wonderful read by Penny Jordan!
August 22, 2020
In the end, heroine had her choice between the slick, blond, London charmer who used her crush on him for ten years to make his office run smoothly - or the hunky tree surgeon who bought the manor house next to her parent's in the country and fell in love with her at first sight.
All of us know which one to pick and the enjoyment of the story is watching the heroine get over her insecurities to see clearly. Poor hero suffered for his unrequited love, but used that energy to make and carve a four-poster marriage bed.
*happy sigh*
If you like virgin-whisperer heroes who are too good to be true, you'll love this one.
All of us know which one to pick and the enjoyment of the story is watching the heroine get over her insecurities to see clearly. Poor hero suffered for his unrequited love, but used that energy to make and carve a four-poster marriage bed.
*happy sigh*
If you like virgin-whisperer heroes who are too good to be true, you'll love this one.
September 28, 2020
This is a sweet coming-of-age romance centered around Sara, a secretary, who's carried a long and unrequited torch for her former boss. When the story begins, Sara has retreated back to her hometown in rural England to nurse her broken heart. But instead of finding peace what Sara finds is an unexpected and undeniable attraction to her parents' sexy neighbor and tree expert, Stuart. However, the course of true love is a slightly bumpy one due to Sara's confused feelings, battered confidence, and a misunderstanding or two.
*spoilers*
Sara might have been in her late twenties, 29, but she'd been too idealistic for her own good, wasting ten years pining over aloser man she'd foolishly idealized. Some might view this behavior as stupid, but it didn't bother me too much as I could understand how a naive and inexperienced woman-girl could weave her romantic dreams around an illusion. Although it's not initially through her own initiative, the important point is that Sara does wake up.
Sara is rudely snapped out of her reverie by her boss's new fiancée, Anna, who reveals how she and Ian both knew Sara had been in love with Ian all along and had had a jolly-good laugh over it. After all, Sara just lacked the sex appeal necessary to catch a man (unlike our "sweet" Anna).
It's only after meeting Stuart that Sara finally realizes what a good, kind, and loving man acts like, and how untrue Anna's taunts were. Just as important she understands that: 1) Ian and she would never have worked out even if he'd returned her love, they were just too different, and 2) if she hadn't been so blind, she'd would have realized sooner that the wonderful man she loved didn't exist.
In spite of the book's title, I liked how the story focused more on Sara falling for Stuart than on her still pining for the other man. It was clear that Stuart had made quite the impression on Sara from the beginning (there were hints that she affected him as well). So much so that poor Sara spent half of the story walking around dazed and confused. She even fainted early on, which, of course, symbolizes Sara figuratively falling for the hero. It's also behavior that Penny Jordan's most sensitive heroines just do.
To be fair, she hadn't eaten in a while and, again, was struggling emotionally. She just couldn't understand how she could be falling for Stuart if she'd never felt this intensely about Ian? And how could they have a future if he was, to her knowledge, unavailable?
I found it very easy to see why Sara fell for Stuart despite her confusion. The man was a living-breathing-walking advertisement for manliness (think of the Brawny Man from the modern paper towel ads, not the '80s one with the pornstache), minus his name. Stuart sounds more like a name for a yuppie.
(This isn't the Brawny Man or an accurate depiction of Stuart, but Richard Armitage as Tolkien's Thorin Oakenshield is quite manly in my opinion. Hottest dwarf ever.)
Anyway, let's run through this list of characteristics that made Stuart such a keeper:
+kind
+strong
+smart
+easy-going
+sexy
+smitten
+ready to settle down
Check, check, check! Who would be foolish enough to pass up this dreamy man? Not Sara, she's wizened up.
*spoilers*
Sara might have been in her late twenties, 29, but she'd been too idealistic for her own good, wasting ten years pining over a
Sara is rudely snapped out of her reverie by her boss's new fiancée, Anna, who reveals how she and Ian both knew Sara had been in love with Ian all along and had had a jolly-good laugh over it. After all, Sara just lacked the sex appeal necessary to catch a man (unlike our "sweet" Anna).
It's only after meeting Stuart that Sara finally realizes what a good, kind, and loving man acts like, and how untrue Anna's taunts were. Just as important she understands that: 1) Ian and she would never have worked out even if he'd returned her love, they were just too different, and 2) if she hadn't been so blind, she'd would have realized sooner that the wonderful man she loved didn't exist.
In spite of the book's title, I liked how the story focused more on Sara falling for Stuart than on her still pining for the other man. It was clear that Stuart had made quite the impression on Sara from the beginning (there were hints that she affected him as well). So much so that poor Sara spent half of the story walking around dazed and confused. She even fainted early on, which, of course, symbolizes Sara figuratively falling for the hero. It's also behavior that Penny Jordan's most sensitive heroines just do.
To be fair, she hadn't eaten in a while and, again, was struggling emotionally. She just couldn't understand how she could be falling for Stuart if she'd never felt this intensely about Ian? And how could they have a future if he was, to her knowledge, unavailable?
I found it very easy to see why Sara fell for Stuart despite her confusion. The man was a living-breathing-walking advertisement for manliness (think of the Brawny Man from the modern paper towel ads, not the '80s one with the pornstache), minus his name. Stuart sounds more like a name for a yuppie.
(This isn't the Brawny Man or an accurate depiction of Stuart, but Richard Armitage as Tolkien's Thorin Oakenshield is quite manly in my opinion. Hottest dwarf ever.)
Anyway, let's run through this list of characteristics that made Stuart such a keeper:
+kind
+strong
+smart
+easy-going
+sexy
+smitten
+ready to settle down
Check, check, check! Who would be foolish enough to pass up this dreamy man? Not Sara, she's wizened up.
January 2, 2018
Re Second-Best Husband - Penny Jordan brings us another sneaky Alpha H combined with her super sweet, but very confused h who just faints at the sight of the Manly Lumberjacky H in all his ripped jean and plaid woolen glory.
Of course our sweet h thinks it is just because she hadn't eaten for days after the news that her much adored boss was marrying another woman. But seasoned PJ veterans know that it is the realization of all that tall dark and handsome Hness in deliciously worn jeans that the h is reacting to.
This one starts when the h, who has been in London and running a business for an unworthy ameoba parasite salesman since she was an impressionable 19 year old, is sent home in tears by the amoeba parasite's new fiancee. A hot to trot piece of totty that makes no bones about how plain, unfashionable and spinsterishly pathetic the h is. The Tarty Totty goes even further by explaining in exquisite detail about how she and the h's boss laughed at the h's feelings of unrequited love for Amoeba Parasite and how could the h think ANYONE would want such a sexless, dried up, undesirable waste of a person.
(Personally, I was amazed that Tarty Totty knew such big words, but then I realized that the h was probably filtering them through her much more extensive lexicon of English and as PJ h's are wont to do, making a lot more of them because they reflected her own hidden self-doubts.)
So the h chucks her job and decides to flee to the comforts of her family home in Shropshire, bordering the Welsh hills. But first she confides her heartbreak to her London BFF, a lovely lady with two kids, who firmly tells her she is making the right choice. London BFF also tells her that she should just find a nice man who wants kids, as the h so desperately wants them, just like the BFF herself did. London BFF goes on to explain that she married for bio-clock reasons, but that eventually the bonding over the children led to a lifetime of true love.
The h, who seems to be more worried about how she thought she had hidden her feelings for Amoeba Parasite better as opposed to how she has just theoretically lost the love of her life, makes it to the empty family home and meets the H. He is the new tree growing ex-forester who has recently bought the nearby period manor home.
Mr. Hunky Forester H quickly explains that the h's mum and dad had to do an emergency run to Devon, the h's sister is in the throes of premature birth and needed some familial support. After one glance at the H's lovingly molded ripped jeans, his manly muddied wellingtons and his surprisingly handsome but sweet smile, the h gets a blood rush to the brain and faints at his feet.
When she comes to in the back of his Range Rover and exclaims about how she never faints, but hasn't eaten for a while, the H whisks her off to his needing to be refurbished manor house, (which in true PJness the h will soon be redoing in period design,) and feeds her half of a shepherd's pie. As the H explains all about the delicate business of growing and selling semi-mature native trees and tells the h about his plans for the future of the manor home, which is huge and requires lots of kids and renovations, the h suddenly finds her appetite restored and her attention totally enveloped by the really nice H.
Soon the h is working for her new friend. She is a whiz at business running and office management and as the big task of sorting out the H's business paperwork gets managed, the h finds herself developing a very close and confiding relationship with the H. She is able to tell him all about her doomed unrequited love for Amoeba Parasite in London and confide the heartbreaking realization that she is just not a woman who is attractive to men.
The H is definite in pointing out that she got the wrong end of the stick on that one and very supportive in telling the h that Amoeba Parasite was a total loser, so who cares what he thinks anyways and the H is sure that Amoeba Parasite will live to rue the day he ever used Tarty Totty to ditch the h.
For the h's part, she soon realizes that really she was just in love with love and the challenge of making a successful London career and that if you take her infatuation out of the picture, Amoeba Parasite isn't all that much to really like and she has no regrets now for getting out of the situation. Especially when she gets to work with such a handsome new male BFF and there was a fantastic roofie kissing moment.
Still the sting of utter rejection does hurt when the h spies Tarty Totty and Amoeba Parasite's engagement announcement in the London paper. So when the H finds her in tears of mortification over her so badly concealed feelings, he makes the suggestion that he and the h follow her London BFF's advice and marry for future progeny.
(Now we can all see via the PJ style that this H is head over heels besotted with his h, he just has to be sneaky about it, cause this h is better at hiding her feelings than she thought and the way she melts over the H's roofie kisses isn't very obvious from the H's pov.)
So the h goes home and her mother instantly assumes that the H and h are in love and starts planning the wedding, even tho the h had only said the H had proposed. Since the h's mum in full steam is comparable to trying to stop a speeding bullet, the h realizes that she had better get over to the H's and tell him she will marry him before the entire village tells him so.
The h has a bit of a problem tho, cause she still has full unicorn grooming rights and she isn't sure of the H's reaction to that bit of information. So she calls London BFF up and LB says to just tell the H about things - the h wonders if a note slipped to the H halfway through the marriage ceremony counts as upfront information- and London BFF says to just spit it out right away.
So the h goes over the H's, ostensibly to catch up on some work while she waits for him to return from an all day off site job, but hears a noise upstairs where there shouldn't be any. Being a brave h, she goes up to check and finds the H installing a massive four poster exquisitely carved bed that he made the h for a wedding present. Overwhelmed by the H's thoughtfulness and generosity and being completely enraptured with the ginormous beautiful bed, the h confesses her dragon riding fears and the H starts kissing her, after explaining she has nothing to worry about.
We get a full purple pink passion PJ lurve mojo moment and the h is surrounded by rapturous bliss. She does worry a little when the H is no where to be found the next morning, but that worry is soon eclipsed by the arrival of Amoeba Parasite, arrogantly demanding that the h crawl back to him. The h soon dismisses Amoeba Parasite back down to the sewer he emerged from and confesses that she loves the H to boot and that their love life is FABULOUS. Something that Amoeba Parasite's indifferent kisses could never aspire to.
Amoeba Parasite wanders off into the HPlandia mists and the h panics. She has finally admitted her love for the H and surely it wouldn't be fair to him to marry him with the love all on her side, that would be breaking their agreement. (The h, for some reason, assumed that the H was also heartbroken over a love from his past and presumed a lot of silly things and had some little jealous moments thinking about that fictitious OW too.) So the h decides to lie and break the engagement and pretend she is going back to London and Amoeba Parasite.
The H hears the h's news and laughs, cause aside from having a strained back from sleeping in the spare room to spare the h's bridal modesty after their epic lurve moment, he heard the h tell Amoeba Parasite she loves him. Which is fantastic and he is delirious with joy cause he has loved the h ever since he first met her and she fainted at his feet. The h tries to clarify that it isn't his ex OW he really loves, but the H is all "What OW?" Sure, he had some potential relationships over the years, he is in his 30's after all, but really his whole world came together via the h when he was just doing his tree thing and now he can't live without her.
So in mutual love and eternal devotion, we get the H and h's wedding. The h confides to the H that there is a baby on the way and the London BFF is really happy for her friend and happy for her own sake, as her hubby sneaks a kiss in too, for another sparkly PJ HP HEA outing.
Of course our sweet h thinks it is just because she hadn't eaten for days after the news that her much adored boss was marrying another woman. But seasoned PJ veterans know that it is the realization of all that tall dark and handsome Hness in deliciously worn jeans that the h is reacting to.
This one starts when the h, who has been in London and running a business for an unworthy ameoba parasite salesman since she was an impressionable 19 year old, is sent home in tears by the amoeba parasite's new fiancee. A hot to trot piece of totty that makes no bones about how plain, unfashionable and spinsterishly pathetic the h is. The Tarty Totty goes even further by explaining in exquisite detail about how she and the h's boss laughed at the h's feelings of unrequited love for Amoeba Parasite and how could the h think ANYONE would want such a sexless, dried up, undesirable waste of a person.
(Personally, I was amazed that Tarty Totty knew such big words, but then I realized that the h was probably filtering them through her much more extensive lexicon of English and as PJ h's are wont to do, making a lot more of them because they reflected her own hidden self-doubts.)
So the h chucks her job and decides to flee to the comforts of her family home in Shropshire, bordering the Welsh hills. But first she confides her heartbreak to her London BFF, a lovely lady with two kids, who firmly tells her she is making the right choice. London BFF also tells her that she should just find a nice man who wants kids, as the h so desperately wants them, just like the BFF herself did. London BFF goes on to explain that she married for bio-clock reasons, but that eventually the bonding over the children led to a lifetime of true love.
The h, who seems to be more worried about how she thought she had hidden her feelings for Amoeba Parasite better as opposed to how she has just theoretically lost the love of her life, makes it to the empty family home and meets the H. He is the new tree growing ex-forester who has recently bought the nearby period manor home.
Mr. Hunky Forester H quickly explains that the h's mum and dad had to do an emergency run to Devon, the h's sister is in the throes of premature birth and needed some familial support. After one glance at the H's lovingly molded ripped jeans, his manly muddied wellingtons and his surprisingly handsome but sweet smile, the h gets a blood rush to the brain and faints at his feet.
When she comes to in the back of his Range Rover and exclaims about how she never faints, but hasn't eaten for a while, the H whisks her off to his needing to be refurbished manor house, (which in true PJness the h will soon be redoing in period design,) and feeds her half of a shepherd's pie. As the H explains all about the delicate business of growing and selling semi-mature native trees and tells the h about his plans for the future of the manor home, which is huge and requires lots of kids and renovations, the h suddenly finds her appetite restored and her attention totally enveloped by the really nice H.
Soon the h is working for her new friend. She is a whiz at business running and office management and as the big task of sorting out the H's business paperwork gets managed, the h finds herself developing a very close and confiding relationship with the H. She is able to tell him all about her doomed unrequited love for Amoeba Parasite in London and confide the heartbreaking realization that she is just not a woman who is attractive to men.
The H is definite in pointing out that she got the wrong end of the stick on that one and very supportive in telling the h that Amoeba Parasite was a total loser, so who cares what he thinks anyways and the H is sure that Amoeba Parasite will live to rue the day he ever used Tarty Totty to ditch the h.
For the h's part, she soon realizes that really she was just in love with love and the challenge of making a successful London career and that if you take her infatuation out of the picture, Amoeba Parasite isn't all that much to really like and she has no regrets now for getting out of the situation. Especially when she gets to work with such a handsome new male BFF and there was a fantastic roofie kissing moment.
Still the sting of utter rejection does hurt when the h spies Tarty Totty and Amoeba Parasite's engagement announcement in the London paper. So when the H finds her in tears of mortification over her so badly concealed feelings, he makes the suggestion that he and the h follow her London BFF's advice and marry for future progeny.
(Now we can all see via the PJ style that this H is head over heels besotted with his h, he just has to be sneaky about it, cause this h is better at hiding her feelings than she thought and the way she melts over the H's roofie kisses isn't very obvious from the H's pov.)
So the h goes home and her mother instantly assumes that the H and h are in love and starts planning the wedding, even tho the h had only said the H had proposed. Since the h's mum in full steam is comparable to trying to stop a speeding bullet, the h realizes that she had better get over to the H's and tell him she will marry him before the entire village tells him so.
The h has a bit of a problem tho, cause she still has full unicorn grooming rights and she isn't sure of the H's reaction to that bit of information. So she calls London BFF up and LB says to just tell the H about things - the h wonders if a note slipped to the H halfway through the marriage ceremony counts as upfront information- and London BFF says to just spit it out right away.
So the h goes over the H's, ostensibly to catch up on some work while she waits for him to return from an all day off site job, but hears a noise upstairs where there shouldn't be any. Being a brave h, she goes up to check and finds the H installing a massive four poster exquisitely carved bed that he made the h for a wedding present. Overwhelmed by the H's thoughtfulness and generosity and being completely enraptured with the ginormous beautiful bed, the h confesses her dragon riding fears and the H starts kissing her, after explaining she has nothing to worry about.
We get a full purple pink passion PJ lurve mojo moment and the h is surrounded by rapturous bliss. She does worry a little when the H is no where to be found the next morning, but that worry is soon eclipsed by the arrival of Amoeba Parasite, arrogantly demanding that the h crawl back to him. The h soon dismisses Amoeba Parasite back down to the sewer he emerged from and confesses that she loves the H to boot and that their love life is FABULOUS. Something that Amoeba Parasite's indifferent kisses could never aspire to.
Amoeba Parasite wanders off into the HPlandia mists and the h panics. She has finally admitted her love for the H and surely it wouldn't be fair to him to marry him with the love all on her side, that would be breaking their agreement. (The h, for some reason, assumed that the H was also heartbroken over a love from his past and presumed a lot of silly things and had some little jealous moments thinking about that fictitious OW too.) So the h decides to lie and break the engagement and pretend she is going back to London and Amoeba Parasite.
The H hears the h's news and laughs, cause aside from having a strained back from sleeping in the spare room to spare the h's bridal modesty after their epic lurve moment, he heard the h tell Amoeba Parasite she loves him. Which is fantastic and he is delirious with joy cause he has loved the h ever since he first met her and she fainted at his feet. The h tries to clarify that it isn't his ex OW he really loves, but the H is all "What OW?" Sure, he had some potential relationships over the years, he is in his 30's after all, but really his whole world came together via the h when he was just doing his tree thing and now he can't live without her.
So in mutual love and eternal devotion, we get the H and h's wedding. The h confides to the H that there is a baby on the way and the London BFF is really happy for her friend and happy for her own sake, as her hubby sneaks a kiss in too, for another sparkly PJ HP HEA outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 16, 2016
Sara is a secretary in love with her boss but when he decides to marry someone else Sara feels hurt and betrayed. She leaves London and moves to her parents house. There she meets Stuart Delaney a man who is nice and kind and everything she wants in a husband. Stuart falls hard for her and he proposes a marriage of convenience. Even though she doesn't love him she accepts but naturally once she gets to know him better she falls for him and forgets all about her douchebag ex boss.
Emotional, angsty love story with wonderful loving characters. PJ was a flawless author!
Emotional, angsty love story with wonderful loving characters. PJ was a flawless author!
March 5, 2017
A very sweet story about finding out real love isn't what you thought it should be.
Sara thought she loved her boss Ian until Ian announced his engagement to the unpleasant and viciously cruel Anna. Sara walked away from her job and returned to her parents home in Shropshire to lick her wounds.
On her first night there she meets Stuart, her parents newest neighbor. After a gaining episode five minutes after meeting him, he takes Sara to the lovely house that he is renovating, feeds her, listens to her heartbreak and offers her a job helping him with his books.
Before you know it, Sara starts feeling tingles around Stuart but her insecurities has her questioning her every reaction. Stuart, with the patience of Job, eventually brings her around and proposes marriage.
While I loved Stuart, Sara annoyed the crap out of me. She's a 29 year old virgin that is more naive that most teenagers. She spent so many years believing that the little attraction she felt for the selfish, unkind, self centered Ian was love that she couldn't recognize true love when it was right in front of her. The man built you a beautiful bed! If that ain't love, I don't know what it. I can't get my darling husband to hang a picture!
A lovely read, even if Sara does need a good shaking. I highly recommend.
Sara thought she loved her boss Ian until Ian announced his engagement to the unpleasant and viciously cruel Anna. Sara walked away from her job and returned to her parents home in Shropshire to lick her wounds.
On her first night there she meets Stuart, her parents newest neighbor. After a gaining episode five minutes after meeting him, he takes Sara to the lovely house that he is renovating, feeds her, listens to her heartbreak and offers her a job helping him with his books.
Before you know it, Sara starts feeling tingles around Stuart but her insecurities has her questioning her every reaction. Stuart, with the patience of Job, eventually brings her around and proposes marriage.
While I loved Stuart, Sara annoyed the crap out of me. She's a 29 year old virgin that is more naive that most teenagers. She spent so many years believing that the little attraction she felt for the selfish, unkind, self centered Ian was love that she couldn't recognize true love when it was right in front of her. The man built you a beautiful bed! If that ain't love, I don't know what it. I can't get my darling husband to hang a picture!
A lovely read, even if Sara does need a good shaking. I highly recommend.
October 18, 2020
We open with a hell of a lot of telling as we learn that Sara, our twenty-nine-year-old heroine, has just left her job after learning that her boss of ten years is engaged and has been aware that she’s been in love with him for the last ten years. It’s very boring. She finally gets home to visit her parents, only to find that they’ve bailed to help out with her sister’s family in an emergency; the helpful neighbor, a handsome man who’s starting up a tree nursery in the manor house down the road, takes her home and feeds her, and Sara ends up confessing the whole sorry business.
It’s a very Penny Jordan Penny Jordan novel, by which I mean it contains paragraphs like, “She was twenty-nine years old. A twenty-nine year-old virgin. She smiled wryly to herself. What was she saying? That she regretted the fact that she had not at some period of her life experienced the intimacy of sharing her body with a lover? If so, was that so very wrong? She was forced to accept that mentally and emotionally it would be harder for her now at twenty-nine, with the added maturity that a decade brought, to actively contemplate a purely physical affair; that her awareness, not just of me changing social climate, which had led to a far less promiscuous and more cautious outlook on casual sex, but also of herself as a woman, of her inhibition and reserve, which told her that she could never be the kind of woman who would find it easy to share an intimate relationship with a man to whom she was not deeply emotionally, and mentally committed would make it impossible.”
I will say that the hero here is actually a genuinely nice guy - Anyway, the heroine in contrast is totally ridiculous.
Three stars for having a non-jackass hero, but this isn't actually something I would ever re-read.
It’s a very Penny Jordan Penny Jordan novel, by which I mean it contains paragraphs like, “She was twenty-nine years old. A twenty-nine year-old virgin. She smiled wryly to herself. What was she saying? That she regretted the fact that she had not at some period of her life experienced the intimacy of sharing her body with a lover? If so, was that so very wrong? She was forced to accept that mentally and emotionally it would be harder for her now at twenty-nine, with the added maturity that a decade brought, to actively contemplate a purely physical affair; that her awareness, not just of me changing social climate, which had led to a far less promiscuous and more cautious outlook on casual sex, but also of herself as a woman, of her inhibition and reserve, which told her that she could never be the kind of woman who would find it easy to share an intimate relationship with a man to whom she was not deeply emotionally, and mentally committed would make it impossible.”
I will say that the hero here is actually a genuinely nice guy - Anyway, the heroine in contrast is totally ridiculous.
Three stars for having a non-jackass hero, but this isn't actually something I would ever re-read.
April 8, 2012
Sara has been in love with her boss Ian for the past 10 years, but he has just announced his engagement. She quits her job (after a fairly nasty scene with Ian's fiancée, Anna) and goes back to her parents' home to lick her wounds. Before she goes, her friend Margaret has a frank talk with her, encouraging her to look at the possibility of marrying someone she likes and respects, rather than waiting to fall in love (with possibly another jerk like Ian). Sara starts seriously thinking about this, and meets her parents' new neighbour Stuart Delaney, who is, of course, gorgeous and perfect in every way.
This was a lovely book, but a trifle boring. Sara herself is quite a boring character, with no real hobbies, interests or much of anything to give her personality. Maybe this was the only type of character the author could envision being open to marriage without passion. Still, it was a nice read and I quite enjoyed it.
This was a lovely book, but a trifle boring. Sara herself is quite a boring character, with no real hobbies, interests or much of anything to give her personality. Maybe this was the only type of character the author could envision being open to marriage without passion. Still, it was a nice read and I quite enjoyed it.
September 4, 2016
Decent
It was a good read except for the first half or even quarter of the book, I had to read the same thing over and over - the heroine's thoughts on her unrequited love and the mean things her bosses fiancé said to her. Over and over and over. I mean, I got it.
It was a good read except for the first half or even quarter of the book, I had to read the same thing over and over - the heroine's thoughts on her unrequited love and the mean things her bosses fiancé said to her. Over and over and over. I mean, I got it.
January 11, 2019
What a change to have the main, male, character as an ordinary person. Not the usual Millionaire or Billionaire that most of the other books have. Stuart is a self made, self employed, not stinking rich guy. The return of the other interest at the end was really well placed.
November 6, 2018
Pretty sure the title is accurate. These two went for convenience that they convinced themselves was love. Boring.
June 6, 2020
Enjoyable romance. Luckily for the heroine, the second best turns our to be the best.
January 7, 2024
This was a sweet read. It has been awhile since I have read a harlequin romance as I have been taking full advantage of my kindle subscription. It has been even longer since I have written a review. This almost felt like a cleansing.
Now Penny Jordan can write some pretty bad heroes Response (I actually like this story) But then she can write about sweet heroes as she does in this story.
Sara is the long suffering PA to Ian. She has wasted all of her 20’s taking care of all of his non sexual needs and fancies herself head over heels in love with him. From what we can surmise through the thoughts of the heroine, Ian has taken full advantage of her feelings for him and used them to benefit him financially, maybe even emotionally at times to stroke his big ego. He announces he is engaged to be married to the beautiful creature Anna. Now, I still don’t know if she would have left, but when the fiancé Anna started to tell Sara how she and Ian laughed at her obvious love for him, the h felt it was best to go away. Anna wanted to make sure Sara stayed away and added some other cruel and unnecessary comments so Sara would understand how very undesirable she was. Hmm, me thinks Anna could be a tad worried that her hubby to be might run to his PA for comfort when her true colors show.
Anyhoo, Sara returns back home to the English countryside leaving fancy, dirty London behind. Upon arrival she runs into Stuart the hunky bachelor neighbor. Basically, she faints and he carries her to his vehicle, takes her home, feeds her, and ends up listening to her story of woe. He bought the fancy run down estate to grow/conserve trees for his tree business. Slowly he is restoring the estate and is quite the craftsman. He is very good with his hands which bodes well for our 29 year old virgin h.
Not much super exciting happens in the story. It is really a lot of the h’s thoughts as she works through her feelings for Ian in comparison to how Stuart makes her feel. Ian’s name is mentioned often in the story but it is just so our h can work out that he really wasn’t what she thought he was. The h and H agree to marriage because both would like companionship and children. The h is under the impression that the H is also recovering from unrequited love. She doesn’t find out til the end how truly wrong she was. The H was just biding his time with the h, letting her work through her feelings so that she would realize the H was the true love of her life. Ian makes an appearance in the end to win back the h, but she took off her rose colored glasses a while ago and isn’t even tempted.
I’m not going to lie, I did skim through paragraphs at times because I felt it was moving slow. Many of the interactions between the h and H are told to the reader. I really like the ending to the story. PJ left the reader satisfied. The hero definitely fell first and fast, and had the story been told from his pov, that is where we might have had some good angst involved.
Now Penny Jordan can write some pretty bad heroes Response (I actually like this story) But then she can write about sweet heroes as she does in this story.
Sara is the long suffering PA to Ian. She has wasted all of her 20’s taking care of all of his non sexual needs and fancies herself head over heels in love with him. From what we can surmise through the thoughts of the heroine, Ian has taken full advantage of her feelings for him and used them to benefit him financially, maybe even emotionally at times to stroke his big ego. He announces he is engaged to be married to the beautiful creature Anna. Now, I still don’t know if she would have left, but when the fiancé Anna started to tell Sara how she and Ian laughed at her obvious love for him, the h felt it was best to go away. Anna wanted to make sure Sara stayed away and added some other cruel and unnecessary comments so Sara would understand how very undesirable she was. Hmm, me thinks Anna could be a tad worried that her hubby to be might run to his PA for comfort when her true colors show.
Anyhoo, Sara returns back home to the English countryside leaving fancy, dirty London behind. Upon arrival she runs into Stuart the hunky bachelor neighbor. Basically, she faints and he carries her to his vehicle, takes her home, feeds her, and ends up listening to her story of woe. He bought the fancy run down estate to grow/conserve trees for his tree business. Slowly he is restoring the estate and is quite the craftsman. He is very good with his hands which bodes well for our 29 year old virgin h.
Not much super exciting happens in the story. It is really a lot of the h’s thoughts as she works through her feelings for Ian in comparison to how Stuart makes her feel. Ian’s name is mentioned often in the story but it is just so our h can work out that he really wasn’t what she thought he was. The h and H agree to marriage because both would like companionship and children. The h is under the impression that the H is also recovering from unrequited love. She doesn’t find out til the end how truly wrong she was. The H was just biding his time with the h, letting her work through her feelings so that she would realize the H was the true love of her life. Ian makes an appearance in the end to win back the h, but she took off her rose colored glasses a while ago and isn’t even tempted.
I’m not going to lie, I did skim through paragraphs at times because I felt it was moving slow. Many of the interactions between the h and H are told to the reader. I really like the ending to the story. PJ left the reader satisfied. The hero definitely fell first and fast, and had the story been told from his pov, that is where we might have had some good angst involved.
July 16, 2018
Sara is running away from her boss. She has been working for the scum bag for a decade, is madly in love with him. But he treats her like dirt. Suffice to say, Sara is the doormatty dumbo. Can't blame the OM if the girl refuses to use her brains !
She runs home when the OM declares one fine day that he is marrying a sexy bombshell. The bombshell promptly comes the office to inform Sara that being a sexless dimwit is the issue why she couldn't hold on to her man. And our Sara believes the bombshell 100% !!
At home, she meets a simple, pleasant guy - a botanist, who is into tree conservation. And within minutes of meeting him, Sara confesses her entire sob story to him !
The guy is obviously smitten at first sight. Now he is thrilled that the OM is out of picture. Sara also goes to great lengths to explain that having spent 10 years in the OM's company, they have never DONE IT!!!!! Now that's the kind of information a hero is looking to hear. Of course he is thrilled !
After playing agony aunt for a few pages, he then turns into a sex guru. Teaches hapless Sara what she missed out on during her decade with the dumbo!
That education is all that was required. Now Sara is a bold, confident woman. The dumbo OM does make a meek return to the scene just to try his luck with Sara once again. But this time Sara is armed with all the knowledge imparted by the hero between the sheets ! She throws the OM out in minutes.
The hero is eavesdropping, holding his heart in his hand. Once the OM departs, he waltzes in , marries the girl and Sara is one happy woman :)
She runs home when the OM declares one fine day that he is marrying a sexy bombshell. The bombshell promptly comes the office to inform Sara that being a sexless dimwit is the issue why she couldn't hold on to her man. And our Sara believes the bombshell 100% !!
At home, she meets a simple, pleasant guy - a botanist, who is into tree conservation. And within minutes of meeting him, Sara confesses her entire sob story to him !
The guy is obviously smitten at first sight. Now he is thrilled that the OM is out of picture. Sara also goes to great lengths to explain that having spent 10 years in the OM's company, they have never DONE IT!!!!! Now that's the kind of information a hero is looking to hear. Of course he is thrilled !
After playing agony aunt for a few pages, he then turns into a sex guru. Teaches hapless Sara what she missed out on during her decade with the dumbo!
That education is all that was required. Now Sara is a bold, confident woman. The dumbo OM does make a meek return to the scene just to try his luck with Sara once again. But this time Sara is armed with all the knowledge imparted by the hero between the sheets ! She throws the OM out in minutes.
The hero is eavesdropping, holding his heart in his hand. Once the OM departs, he waltzes in , marries the girl and Sara is one happy woman :)
October 2, 2020
It was so sweet!
No misunderstandings, you usually cry that they talk to each other well this one they was truthful to each other from the get go!
Brilliant very sweet nothing vicious! Absolutely sweet a loverly read all the way happy pretty much.
Heart warming sweet and a happy ending.
The only fault was the comparing Stuart to Ian Constantly through out the book, but I also saw it as a need as she was slowly finding faults with Ian. So maybe it was needed even tho repeated a bit too much.
No misunderstandings, you usually cry that they talk to each other well this one they was truthful to each other from the get go!
Brilliant very sweet nothing vicious! Absolutely sweet a loverly read all the way happy pretty much.
Heart warming sweet and a happy ending.
The only fault was the comparing Stuart to Ian Constantly through out the book, but I also saw it as a need as she was slowly finding faults with Ian. So maybe it was needed even tho repeated a bit too much.
April 11, 2021
This book is very similar to another of her own book. The h is betrayed in love and is ofcourse a virgin and the H falls in love but pretends to have been in love with someone else and he proposes a convenient marriage/engagement and they are in love by the end of the book.
July 24, 2020
Very 80s, really nice eco-minded dude; sort of Betty Neels plus sexual urges; very mammalian; okay
Read
February 25, 2022Hold the love of yr love nixt door to yr parent home than usles cruch in noboady.Love romance boring at first.
September 25, 2022
Książka była ok, jak na tego typu literaturę gładko i szybko się ją czytało.
January 7, 2023
Sweet book but not much to it - low on angst, predictable!
July 15, 2024
1.5*
The premise of the book wasn’t bad.
Stuart, the hero, is way too good to be true, but not on an over the top manner. He's a hunk, decent, honest and straightforward man yet, luckily for the heroine, he managed to still be single and move right next door to her parents, whom he even gets very well with.
The heroine, though, is not only insecure, but a bit of a doormat and I think lacking in personality.
I don't know if the author was pressed for time, but with the exception of the data about trees, it feels like the book was rushed, with full sentences and thoughts repeated ad nauseam. As in, the actual story.
Sara spends much of the book comparing the hero with Ian, the OM, who she has been in love with for the last ten years, or so she believes. The more she thinks about him and his fiancée, the more it comes to light that marvellous Ian has no redeeming features whatsoever, but she still keeps trying to convince herself she loves him nonetheless. Boring to no end.
Finally, in the last chapter of the book, the necessary scene (or not really?) where Sara faces the OM after at last growing a backbone and some self-esteem (thanks 100% to the hero and a long night of selfless giving pleasure) is, to me, completely unconvincing. Alas, I guess Ian just had to show up out of nowhere, at the right time, and play his role as a horrible selfish lyingscum man, with no sign of virtue or conscience.
Hence she ended up floating towards Stuart?
Personally, I’d have been happy with a 29 year-old heroine that was simply just trying to move on from an awkward situation, and forget about a man that wasn’t particularly selfish or manipulative, just happened to be engaged to someone else.
A heroine that actually had a real relationship with her sister, and that eventually realised she’d fallen in love with the hero, being then capable to decide for herself that she really wanted to marry Stuart for the good man he is, instead of seemingly just going with the flow and keep looking back the entire book. I think Stuart deserved better.
The premise of the book wasn’t bad.
Stuart, the hero, is way too good to be true, but not on an over the top manner. He's a hunk, decent, honest and straightforward man yet, luckily for the heroine, he managed to still be single and move right next door to her parents, whom he even gets very well with.
The heroine, though, is not only insecure, but a bit of a doormat and I think lacking in personality.
I don't know if the author was pressed for time, but with the exception of the data about trees, it feels like the book was rushed, with full sentences and thoughts repeated ad nauseam. As in, the actual story.
Sara spends much of the book comparing the hero with Ian, the OM, who she has been in love with for the last ten years, or so she believes. The more she thinks about him and his fiancée, the more it comes to light that marvellous Ian has no redeeming features whatsoever, but she still keeps trying to convince herself she loves him nonetheless. Boring to no end.
Finally, in the last chapter of the book, the necessary scene (or not really?) where Sara faces the OM after at last growing a backbone and some self-esteem (thanks 100% to the hero and a long night of selfless giving pleasure) is, to me, completely unconvincing. Alas, I guess Ian just had to show up out of nowhere, at the right time, and play his role as a horrible selfish lying
Hence she ended up floating towards Stuart?
Personally, I’d have been happy with a 29 year-old heroine that was simply just trying to move on from an awkward situation, and forget about a man that wasn’t particularly selfish or manipulative, just happened to be engaged to someone else.
A heroine that actually had a real relationship with her sister, and that eventually realised she’d fallen in love with the hero, being then capable to decide for herself that she really wanted to marry Stuart for the good man he is, instead of seemingly just going with the flow and keep looking back the entire book. I think Stuart deserved better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2025
This book isn't in Goodreads' options of editions, and I've never before seen the Penny Jordan Collector's Edition line it belongs to. I'm not sure when it was published (it says copyright 19991 and 1993 North American first printing) The cute flower illustration is copyright 1997 by Erica Just.
Sara has been in love with her boss Ian for ten years, living off of the crumbs of his careless attention and the certainty that carrying a torch for an unrequited love was the right thing to do. When Ian gets engaged to Anna, and Anna unkindly confronts Sara about her feelings, her carefully constructed life in London becomes unbearable and Sara flees to her parents' farm house in Shropshire. All the while, she ruminates on the shocking admission from her wildly happy neighbor that she and her husband had married without loving each other, but with compatible personalities and goals, and love came later.
Her parents are with her sister who has unexpectedly gone into premature labor, and she makes the acquaintance of the new manor owner, a tree cultivator named Stuart. She eventually tells him all about Ian, and her desire for children, and her neighbor's marriage. Stuart listens, hires her to do the paperwork for his business, and as they get to know each other, kisses her a few times. But then Sara sees Ian's engagement announcement in the paper and seems to spiral down again. Stuart proposes a very convenient marriage (while clearly being desperately in love with the oblivious Sara) and she accepts.
Sara was a bit of a struggle to like for me, because she was all "woe is me, my life is over at 29" but she had worked for/loved Ian for a third of her life, so her romantic abilities had basically been atrophied from the start. Stuart was fine (although I never did understand how he could afford the manor house) until the bed frame scene and then I really appreciated him for getting Sara to finally confront herself and decide what she really desired.
I think I needed a little less woe and a little more wooing to make this a four star book.
August 16, 2008
Second-Best Husband by Penny Jordan (2008)
May 8, 2015
Have always liked her books quite a lot. Cruel Legacy is one of my favorites!
hq-to-read
February 11, 2019Secretary Sara Browning has just discovered that relationships with the boss don't always work— especially when he's decided to marry someone else! Desperately needing to hide from her humiliation, Sara decides to leave London and stay at her parents' home in Shropshire while she works things out. But Shropshire offers a distraction Sara never expected….
Tree specialist Stuart Delaney is everything her former boss and ex-love isn't. He's reliable, kind, sympathetic… and from the sound of it, has a few romantic scars of his own. In fact, he's exactly what Sara wants in a husband— and Stuart is crazy about her. Suddenly Sara finds herself engaged to be married to the perfect guy—but she doesn't love him. Still, if everything looks good on paper, shouldn't there be a happily ever after…eventually?
Tree specialist Stuart Delaney is everything her former boss and ex-love isn't. He's reliable, kind, sympathetic… and from the sound of it, has a few romantic scars of his own. In fact, he's exactly what Sara wants in a husband— and Stuart is crazy about her. Suddenly Sara finds herself engaged to be married to the perfect guy—but she doesn't love him. Still, if everything looks good on paper, shouldn't there be a happily ever after…eventually?
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews